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(CO) Petition To Repeal The 16th And 17th Amendments Of The U.S. Constitution

15 January 2013

To Congress:

Whereas: One hundred years ago the 16th and 17th Amendments to the Constitution were ratified by this nation in the belief that a stronger Central Government would benefit the people to a greater degree than the States and the people could accomplish individually.

Whereas: Since that time the Central Government has metastasized into a wasteful, corrupt and paranoid megalith which has proclaimed the world a war zone and is now identifying her very own citizens - her creators - as potential threats to her security.

Whereas: The reality that the Central Government no longer considers the Constitution and other founding documents relevant in today's society verifies the disdain that is held for a people that embrace liberty above security, self determination above dependence and self defense above victimization.

Whereas: In keeping with the "Declaration of Independence", a list of grievances against the Central Government is provided. Had the States and the people known that, in the future, these intrusions into their rights would arise it is doubtful that the Constitution would have been ratified - and surely neither the 16th nor the 17th Amendments would have been ratified. In fact, had it had not been for the strong arguments in favor of the protections established in the Constitution as evidenced in the many Federalist papers of the day plus the addition of the "Bill of Rights", the Constitution would not have been ratified.

Whereas: The following list of grievances is presented as evidence of the breaking of the social contract made with "The People" and justification for the repeal of the 16th and 17th Amendments:

1) Ratification of the 16th Amendment legalized the Federal Government's designs to attain vast wealth directly from the American people. A person's income, shown by John Locke in his second treatise on Government to be their personal property, is the basis for sustaining life and a means to the "pursuit of happiness". The direct taxation of our property was originally prohibited by the Constitution. As a result of the 16th Amendment, the government gained the needed funding to engage in wars with which to subjugate the people to all manner of suffering and deprivation in an agenda designed to increase the power of the Central Government globally. The Central Government also devised social programs purported to aid the poor and down trodden but whose actual effect was to enslave the American Citizenry in a never ending cycle of dependency and servitude.

2) Removal of the "Several States" voice in the Federal Government by ratifying the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. This act destroyed the vital "Checks and Balances" in the structure of the Constitution and reduced the Senate to act as a duplicate "House of Representatives". Not answerable to the States, the Senators became subject to "influences" other than the States they were sworn to represent. This Amendment also influenced the Senate's roll in the Supreme Court Justice Selection process leading to such a dismissive interpretation of the Constitution as to render it insignificant.

3) Ambiguity of American citizenship by giving the same protections and privileges afforded by the Constitution to those not subject to its jurisdiction: illegal aliens, children born of foreign nationals, enemy combatants and foreign criminals not residing in this country and not in any way contributing to the United States and, in essence, trivializing those same rights and privileges of "The People". This dismissive interpretation by the Supreme Court is a result of the President's and Senate's objective to select Justices who share disdain for a document that limits the power of the Central Government. Had Senators been defenders of State sovereignty, Justices adhering to the intent of the Constitution as ratified would have been selected preventing such ambiguity.

4) Manipulation of the "Commerce Clause" (Article 1, section 8, clause 3) invading State sovereignty and infringing upon the right of the people to engage in commerce within their own communities and States in order to favor Central Government approved Corporations control of the means of acquiring our property.

5) Engaging in foreign wars and adventurism across the globe in the name of freedom and "National Security", for which there is NO Constitutional justification or jurisdiction. Using the, "State of War", to infringe upon the people's right to privacy, habeas corpus, trial by jury and subjugating the citizenry to the "Laws of War" (Patriot Act - 2001, NDAA 2012).

6) Nationalization of the people's Education Systems (Violation of the 10th Amendment and nullifies Congress' "Power" to cut spending).

7) Nationalization of the people's Health Care Systems (Violation of the 10th Amendment and nullifies Congress' "Power" to cut spending).

8) Nationalization of the people's Welfare Systems (Violation of the 10th Amendment and nullifies Congress' "Power" to cut spending).

9) Nationalization of the people's Retirement Systems (Violation of the 10th Amendment and nullifies Congress' "Power" to cut spending).

10) Nationalization of Agricultural Systems (Violation of the 10th Amendment, provided the means to manipulate the food supply, eliminated a multitude of small farms that could not afford the onerous regulations and created a Farming Industry that is dependent on Federal subsidies for its survival and Congress' "Power" to cut spending).

11) Establishing the EPA which further nationalized and monopolized businesses in the name of saving the environment and further used as a tool to surreptitiously support treaties (UN Agenda 21) contrived by a collaborative international organization (United Nations) whose ultimate aim is to destroy our nation's wealth and eliminate our personal property rights. Note that all these powers were NOT granted to the Federal Government by the Constitution and therefore are, in Jefferson's words, "usurpations of powers not granted" and "null and void".

12) Exempting the Congress from the same laws that the people must obey (OSHA, Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act).

14) Withholding funding designated for States to compel submission to the Central Government (Department of Education: No Child Left Behind, Department of Transportation: Minimum Drinking Age).

15) Waged a "War on Drugs", exacerbating the situation by criminalizing dangerous recreational drug use resulting in the establishment of dangerous International Drug Gangs that rival and destabilize their host countries instead of allowing the natural course of events to occur: Injury, Litigation, Regulation, Taxation and Decline.

16) Waged a "War on Terror", an act ostensibly portrayed and used to apprehend "Terrorists" but effectively stripping the people of their natural rights in the name of "National Security" (Violation of the 4th Amendment).

17) Waged several wars in the name of national security but resulting in a world that has become increasingly dangerous and hostile towards American Citizens (And many in utter disregard of the procedures established by the Constitution for prosecuting war). Effecting an isolationism never conceived of by our forefathers (Mexican Civil War, Banana Wars, WW1, WW2, Korean War, Vietnamese War, Panama, Persian Gulf War, Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan).

18) Establishing a multitude of offices answerable to no one which has sent swarms of officers out to harass the people and infirnge upon their right of self determination (SEC, FDA, FCC, IRS, FTC, BATF, USDA and other assorted Czars).

19) Consented to the selection of Federal Judges and Justices of the Supreme Court who placed the ideology of a supreme central power above strict adherence to the Constitution they swore to defend and in so doing subjecting The People and States to all manner of infringements of our liberty.

20) Failure to pass balanced budgets leading to continued spending and borrowing in the face of a mounting national debt.

21) Manipulating markets through unjust regulation and subsidies resulting in catastrophic failures. Which in turn were blamed on a "lack" of regulation and a call for yet more regulation, setting the stage for future catastrophe (Enron scandal, Affordable Housing Mandates).

Therefore: The failure of the Central Government to manage the affairs of the state in a prudent, self restrained fiscally responsible manner has made it necessary that "The People" demand the repeal of the 16th and 17th Amendments to the Constitution, which destroyed the structure of checks and balances vital to our government, provide the funding for an unrestrained central power and exchanged our freedom for a life of dependency and servitude.